Nicodemus is an Oxhill based charity supporting vulnerable young people, by offering mentor training, rehabilitation and supporting young people to volunteer in their local communities where they make an impact giving them value and gaining work experience. They work with vulnerable communities in Latin America and also bring that same impact back to the UK.
In the last 12 years Nicodemus have successfully supported vulnerable communities in Latin America and has so far supported a total of 20,059 beneficiaries, rescued 2,584 young people from Street Life in Guatemala City, mentored 1,695 people and provided 6,287 first aid treatments to street living people in Guatemala City.
One of their most important services is their mentoring programme, which offers training to those looking to support vulnerable youth. The programme allows their work to create exponential impact as some of the rescued youth go on to become living testimonials of turning their life around by becoming mentors themselves.
One such story is Linda’s journey with Nicodemus. She ended up living on the streets due to
the abusive environment she was previously in. She didn’t want to become like her mother, or father, so that’s when Nicodemus gave her a mentor, an education scholarship and she also became involved in voluntary work, helping others who were experiencing what she had in the past. She is now an active member of the community and has since become a mentor herself.
Due to the unbelievable success of Nicodemus’ ongoing efforts in Latin America, the charity is expanding their services by bringing them back home to the United Kingdom and offering the Foundational Specialist Mentoring training courses to community groups and churches working with vulnerable and marginalised people. While the street living issue is not as prominent in the UK, vulnerable young people are still struggling to escape poverty, gangs and trauma caused by abusive living situations and substance abuse. In the last year alone the UK mentoring programme has trained 158 mentors reaching 197 young people. These numbers clearly show the need for such support.
This year Nicodemus has received funding through the Access Programme managed by Coventry and Warwickshire Reinvestment Trust(CWRT) which is extremely significant strategic funding that will allow them to complete the preparation and recording of the Intermediate Mentoring training course.
The Access Programme offers grants, as well as loan and grant combinations, to West Midlands charities and social enterprises that support those affected by the cost-of-living crisis and are generating income to become more financially sustainable. The programme is funded by Access - The Foundation for Social Investment, working in collaboration with the CWCDA, and is managed by CWRT.
Thanks to the funding received from CWRT, both Foundational & Intermediate mentor training courses will also become available to corporations and small businesses alike to support staff induction and ongoing development and empower their employees to support local voluntary groups with their mentoring skills (CSR). For a small charge, this will assure the financial sustainability of the charity and will help them to further expand their impact.